Chapter Four
When Saul and Seth came home mid-afternoon, I knew that Saul was aware he was dying.
But did he know about Tage and his offer?
I waited on the porch as they trudged up the hill.
Saul didn’t mope. He ran right to me, wrapped me in his arms, and kissed me like there was no tomorrow.
The very thought hit me in the gut; a sharp arrow of truth that found its mark. There might not be many tomorrows left.
Even if he chose The Sand, he might be different.
But Tage wasn’t.
Maybe Saul would stay… Saul.
So many emotions flowed down my face, wetting his cheeks.
“Don’t,” he croaked. But his eyes filled with tears, too. He kissed me again; our sadness mingling with our love.
When we parted, I looked to Seth, who gave a slight shake of his head.
“We need to talk to you about something, Saul.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is it worse than the tumor?”
“You can be the judge of that,” I said quietly.
As Seth moved past us into the cabin, Saul grabbed my elbow gently as I began to follow him inside. “What’s this about?”
“It’s best if Seth explains. Just... hear him out.”
Saul nodded once and followed me inside, where the light from outside wasn’t strong enough to illuminate the room entirely. It was pale, wan, and thin.
Saul sank into his normal seat at the table, where Seth was already waiting in his. I threw a log on the fire and stoked the glowing-red embers until the seasoned wood ignited and the flames began to throw heat into the room.
“What’s up?” Saul asked, his eyes fixated on the fresh wood aflame in the hearth.
“Seth...” I gently nudged.
Seth threaded his slender fingers together and leaned into the table. “Tage has been helping me with my powers for a long time.”
“I know that,” Saul said quickly.
“He’s been helping me in The Sand. Not just in my dreams.”
Saul’s face reddened, but he didn’t open his mouth. Seth continued, “He wants to make you an offer.”
“What kind of offer?”
“To give you full access to The Sand. Just before you pass, you could go there and he would preserve you. You’d be able to live in The Sand,” Seth’s voice shattered.
“The Sand? You’re saying I could live in The Sand and not die?”
“You could either stay there until something happens to Mom, or you could stay forever. It’s up to you.”
Saul motioned for me to sit beside him, so I did. “Would Tage be there?” he asked, his voice turning to gravel.
“No,” Seth said. “He would either have to move to the Underworld, or...”
“Or?” Saul questioned.
“Or I could revive him and he could live on earth again.”
Saul’s palm slapped the table. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Seth shook his head.
Saul looked at me. “Do you believe this? Did you know about Tage all this time? Have you been going to see him?”
I shook my head, letting out a harsh laugh. “I had no idea until this morning, and I did go and see him today.” Seth ticked his head back. “To yell at him!” I added.
“Mom,” Seth groaned.
“Don’t you ‘Mom’ me. I have every right to be angry that you and he kept this secret from us for years!”
Saul grabbed his temples. “He dies or he lives, and it’s all our decision? And my choice is to die or go to The Sand. Could you come there?” he asked me. “Could you bring her, Seth?”
He nodded. “I could, but Tage also said he’d infuse her with the power to open the door whenever she wanted.”
That was news. My eyebrows ticked up.
“At what cost?” Saul roared, half standing from his chair. Recovering quickly, he settled back into the seat. “I’m sorry. I just don’t trust him. I never have. And I’m sorry you have to hear that, Seth, but it’s the truth.”
Seth nodded. “I know.”
“I need something to drink,” Saul said quietly, attempting to stand from his seat, but his legs wouldn’t hold him. He caught himself, hands braced against the table. Fingers trembling with weakness, he looked at me. “I’m so sorry, Porschia.”
I shook my head. “It’s not your fault.”
“I should’ve listened when you screamed that day at the river. I should’ve used the ring. Maybe it wouldn’t have been too late. I thought it was.” He slumped back into his seat. “I felt the Infection. But maybe...”
It was too late to think about such things. No one could say for sure if it had truly been too late or not. No one could’ve predicted that the Infected, once healed, would have such lingering and awful afflictions.
I never would have imagined Saul would be so sick, or that he was going to die so young. Tears welled in my eyes and spilled onto my shirt.
“It doesn’t matter now,” I answered. “All that matters is what we do with the time we have left together.”
“If I go to The Sand, you could come with me,” he said softly.
“I can’t leave Seth, but I could visit. Every day, I could come to you.
” And I would. For as long as I had the power to walk to the clearing, until I was old and feeble, or just as sick as Saul.
I had been Infected, after all. Not to the degree he was, but something would ultimately claim me, too. It was just a matter of time.
He nodded. “So, Tage...”
My throat closed around the feeling of his name choking me. “Seth should decide.”
Seth held his hands up. “No way.”
“What would help you most?” Saul asked him.
Seth pinched his lips together. “I don’t feel like it’s right to even ask you this,” he said, a tear sliding down his cheek.
“I don’t want to lose either of you. If he goes to the Underworld, I’ll lose him, but if he lives, he can help me.
I already feel like my powers are spiraling out of control. ”
The wooden table began to rattle with his tension, lifting several inches off the ground with each jerk.
“Calm down, Seth,” I tried to soothe.
He cried harder, and the table’s trembling worsened. I thought the wood would splinter in two.
“I want to talk to him,” Saul said so quietly, my heart broke. “I want to talk to Tageset.”
Before I left with him, Seth took my head in his hands. “I can ease the pain, I just can’t make the tumor go away. Can I help?”
“Of course,” I said. I didn’t tell him that the tingling in my brain was a familiar feeling and that I was sure he’d been helping me for a while.
The boy had a heart of gold. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through, being able to see what was happening and powerless to stop it, despite having so much power at his fingertips.
Seth was quiet on the way to The Sand. The pathway beneath our feet was worn to the dirt, only specks of ice and snow lingering along the way.
Our steps fell in unison, his gait matching mine the way it had since he’d grown as tall as me.
When he was a boy, he had to run to keep up.
I thought one day I would struggle to do the same, but now I knew I wouldn’t live long enough.
A tear trickled down my face. I swiped it away before he could see it.
What if I didn’t get to The Sand in time?
What if I had hours, not weeks? More tears fell, a torrent I couldn’t stop.
“It’s going to be okay, Dad,” Seth said confidently.
“Everything’s going to change. How is that okay?”
“You once told me that if life throws something in your way, you deal with it as best you can. Well, this is us doing just that. Most people don’t have this option, even though it’s not ideal. But it’s something.” Seth flexed his fingers.
We stepped into the clearing, where the forest was silent except for our breaths. Eerily so.
“Ready?” he asked.
I looked at my son and nodded once.
As he lowered his head and began chanting in Egyptian, the air became viscous. It crackled with electricity, and when a bright light split the darkness, Seth pulled me into it.
The Sand was exactly as I remembered. Warm, hot, and dry, a constant breeze flowing over the dunes, carving intricate patterns into them. Thankful that my headache was gone, I looked around for Tage; however, the only thing I saw was sand and palms. “Where’s Tage?”
Seth blew out a breath and muttered something under his breath. Tage suddenly appeared on the nearest dune and began walking down the side closest to us, skirt flapping in the breeze. This Tage wore no arrogant smirk.
“Saul,” he greeted cordially.
I crossed my arms. “Tage.”
Seth stood to the side as we faced one another, a tense silence filling the air. I turned to my son. “I want you to wait for me in the clearing.”
Seth opened his mouth to protest, but when he saw the look in my eyes, he knew I meant business. He looked to Tage, who nodded slightly. To hell with that. He was my son – he didn’t need Tage’s permission to leave.
In a flash, Seth was gone and my head began to pound again. Was it because Seth wasn’t present? Was that why he’d been so adamant about working with me in the city lately?
“I want you to stay away from my son and wife,” I spat.
“He is my son,” Tage said, crossing his arms, a dark look shadowing his face.
I shook my head. “I’ve raised him and he’s mine.”
“I’ve been a constant in his life, Saul. Just because I haven’t been able to leave this place, doesn’t mean our relationship is any less real than the one you and he share.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but a shaft of intense pain sliced through my head. “Why am I hurting like this here?”
He stepped away. “I would have to bind you here in order to stop it. I can call for Seth, though. He can ease it.”
“He’s more powerful than you, isn’t he?” I asked Tage.
He didn’t hesitate to agree. “He is. I never imagined sorcery would come so easily to him. It’s... complex, and yet he’s so young.”
I swallowed. “Can I stay?”
Tage’s brows lifted. “You want me to bind you now? Does Porschia know? Does Seth?”
“They don’t. I just have this feeling that if I leave, I won’t be able to return.”
He nodded slowly.
“Are you certain this is what you want?”
“Is there something you aren’t telling me? Anything you’re omitting? You’re saying I can stay here, but still see my son and wife; I won’t have power, but I won’t have pain once I’m bound. What happens when years down the road, they pass on? Can I move to the afterlife with them?”
He nodded. “If Seth binds you here, you and he will be tethered. When he dies and enters the afterlife, so will you.”
“What if something happens to me? Will it harm him?”
Tage shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. Seth is too strong. The tether would break from your end, but he wouldn’t be harmed.”
I needed to do this now. Porschia was going to be pissed, but she would eventually understand. “Seth!” I yelled. He stepped back into The Sand a moment later, looking back and forth between Tage and me.
“Bind me here, please.”
His mouth gaped open and he looked to Tage, who nodded once. He stretched out his hand to Seth, a piece of parchment appearing in his palm. “Read the words and keep one hand on Saul’s body at all times.”
Seth’s hands shook as he took the paper. “Are you sure? Do you want to go tell Mom first?”
“No.” My voice broke, saying everything I couldn’t. I didn’t have time to tell her.
He stepped toward me, clapped his hand on my shoulder, lowered his head, and sniffed once.
A warm tear splashed onto the sand-covered leather of my boot, cleaning the spot and at the same time leaving a dark stain of sadness.
As he began reading from the symbols on the page, a swirl of golden light encapsulated us.
When the last word was spoken, the light disappeared. He removed his hand and hugged me tight. “I’m sorry.”
“It didn’t work?” I asked.
Seth shook his head. “No, it did.”
We both looked to Tage when he cleared his throat. His skin was translucent. He was already fading away. “I need to take you out of here!” Seth yelled. As he lunged for Tage, a black mist crept over the ground.
“Go!” Tage shouted.
“I won’t leave you. You’ll be taken to the Underworld!”
“You have to leave, Seth! Now!” Tage’s sharp eyes were darting all around the fog, which grew thicker and began to swirl.
“Too late,” a female voice said from behind Seth, where Sekhmet appeared over his shoulder.
“I finally figured out how to overcome your annoying little spell, brother,” she spat at Tage.
“It’s been far too long since I felt The Sand.
The Underworld isn’t fun at all, but you’re about to find that out for yourself.
” With a flick of her wrist, the fog morphed into a thousand hands, grasping for Tage, pulling him into the dune.
Seth and I lunged for him, but his scream was swallowed by the fog, which was gone, soaked into the grains beneath us before we could get to him.
Sekhmet tutted at the two of us. “Did you really think you could help him, dear nephew? You aren’t that strong. As a matter of fact, I’m afraid without proper instruction, you will never live up to your full potential.”
I strode toward her with purpose. I’d never hit a woman in my life, but this might feel good.
She was a blur. “Oh, I don’t intend to stay here, Saul. The Sand is all yours.”
Sekhmet smiled, her fangs lengthening. She sought out Seth, who stood behind me, and in an instant disappeared, reappearing behind him. She thrust her fangs into his neck, drinking quickly.
He grunted, but threw her over his shoulder and onto the ground, sand flying in every direction. She began laughing, lying in the sand, staring up at Seth. “You... have much more power than I ever imagined. And now, so do I.”
She leapt up and opened the doorway, disappearing into our world beyond.
Seth was on her heels. “I gotta get to Mom!” he yelled as he ran through the doorway.
“Seth!” I cried. He stopped and looked back at me. “Unbind me!” I pleaded.
He pursed his lips together, considering my request.
“You need me, son. Please, unbind me. I know what she can do. We’ve faced her before, and trust me, you cannot do this alone.”
He lowered his head and began reversing the binding spell. I felt the moment I was free, like an invisible shroud had been lifted. He held his hand out for me and pulled me through the doorway.
In the clearing it was dark, but I knew he could see. “Go! I’ll only slow you down, but I promise to be right behind you. Get to the cabin.”
He nodded and ran into the woods, disappearing into them. He would beat Sekhmet to the cabin. That was all that mattered.